


In Their Ships With Painted Sails

by Memories_of_the_Shadows



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate History, Gen, Headcanon, No Dialogue, No Plot/Plotless, Origin Story, Uzumaki Clan-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-26 11:55:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18180281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Memories_of_the_Shadows/pseuds/Memories_of_the_Shadows
Summary: A musing on the origins of the Uzumaki Clan.





	In Their Ships With Painted Sails

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Atlantis" by Donovan.

An Uzumaki burns across the world like a wildfire, each and every member of their clan a force of personality and chakra.

To a sensor of appropriate range and power, Uzushiogakure (a place of bright color reflecting off a wide river, swirling seals that gently light even dark nights, and wine-dark seas that are treacherous for the enemies of that island and sometimes even its friends) is brighter than the sun and just as easy to pick out details from. Many think that it is the seals that prevent such intrusion, but it is not. The Uzumaki make their home in Uzushiogakure, and it is their presence that blinds any sensor not of their clan.

Uzumaki children are born knowing their parents, and learn their clan members’ chakra patterns before they learn to speak. They learn to seal before they can even write, and are never taught that there are any limits to what it is that they can do. Because for an Uzumaki who is determined enough to see something done, there are no limits.

Legends spoke of the first Uzumaki, Varuna, who contracted with the crocodiles--the ones who made the first seals, far before the toads and who guarded their swamps and rivers ferociously before being sought by the headstrong sailor--and charted the first path to Uzushio through the whirlpools.

They are not invincible, however much like the maelstrom they are named for an Uzumaki may be. They are human, as prone to mistake and foibles as any other of the species. Emotions, though, are their weakness; as well as their greatest strength. An Uzumaki _feels_ so strongly that they are liable to consume themselves like fire that has used up all the oxygen around it. They can feel the emotions around them to such an extent that though they are never taught them by their clan, an Uzumaki limits themself to ease the minds of those they love.

Never large, when Uzushio burned and sank partially beneath the waves, the Uzumaki clan spread thin and fractured like spun sugar.

Jealous shinobi took advantage of the Uzumaki’s situation, preying on a clan that had been so used to being stronger together, that they were weak apart. Adult clan members died, their children taken and stripped of their name and heritage, until what made them Uzumaki subsumed under the waves of societal pressure like their homeland. All that is left of the once great clan is a handful of orphan children--most of whom are driven half-mad by the lack of education on their hereditary abilities--shunned by the people around them for what would have once been their pride.

All that remains of Uzushiogakure and their most famous clan in the end are trinkets, scattered books, and family heirlooms held in the hands of those who could not possibly hope to wield them. And they would have remained lost, had one of those orphans not wished to regain what was lost to them.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a finished work. The fact that I wrote it to organize my thoughts on a longer work that might never be published is entirely beside the point. I love thinking about the origins and myths of different stories and how they would affect the current characters and settings, so basically this is a fancy list of headcanons centered on the Uzumaki clan. In the unlikely event that that longer story is ever finished--because I try to never post WIPs, I have a problem with never finishing things--then this will be put as part of a series but it can be read alone.
> 
> Hit me up here or at my [tumblr](https://sachinighte.tumblr.com/) if you want to talk more about my headcanons!


End file.
